Experimental study on water-based mud: investigate rheological and filtration properties using cupressus cones powder

Improper drilling fluid parameters may induce a variety of issues, including insufficient cuttings transport, limited solids suspension, poor hole cleaning, and excessive filtrate invasion to the formation. Controlled and optimized drilling fluids rheology is considered the key parameter to solve severe drilling problems encountered during drilling operations. Oil-based muds have numerous applications, but owing to some economic, environmental, and operational challenges, drilling companies are looking for new additives to enhance the characteristics of water-based muds for improved performance. However, the longer exposure of some WBM additives degrades them, which leads to insignificant mud characteristics. In this study, micro-sized naturally occurring agro-material namely cupressus cones powder (CCP) has been assessed as a potential additive in WBM for the first time to enhance the mud performance by improving its rheological and filtration properties. The objective of this study is to prepare a drilling fluid using abundantly available cupressus cones powder and investigate its effects on mud properties. The rheological and filtration characteristics of the drilling muds were determined based on API standards. A series of experiments have been performed to evaluate the impact of CCP loading on the rheology and fluid loss characteristics of drilling mud. The concentration of CCP was varied from 1 to 7 ppb. The findings of rheological characteristics demonstrated that altering the CCP loading enhanced the plastic viscosity, yield point, and gel strength of water-based drilling mud. The optimal concentration for PV was recorded in the range of 2–4 ppb, while the optimum value of YP was obtained at 6 ppb. Moreover, the temperature affected the viscosity and filtration of the mud, whereas the CCP containing muds were found salt resistant. The percent decrease in filtrate volume at 25, 121, and 150 °C was noted as 50, 59.6, and 62%, respectively. The effectiveness of the CCP was also observed from the SEM analysis. This study described the use of a locally available agro-waste material as a potential mud additive.